Examples.—Se li estus riĉa, li havus multajn amikojn = If he were rich, he would have many friends. Se vi volus, vi estus feliĉa = If you wished, you would be happy. Se ni estus avertitaj, ni estus defendintaj vin = If we had been (should have been) warned, we should have defended you. Se li forirus, li riskus, ke la patrino ne trovus lin = If he went (should go) away he would risk that his (the) mother would not find him.
193. (a). Note the various ways in which estus may be translated with the present and past passive participles in the following two sentences:—
(1). Se li estus sendata Berlinon, li estus devigata lasi sian edzinon hejme.
(2). Se li estus sendita Berlinon, li estus devigita lasi sian edzinon hejme.
(1). If he were (should be) sent to Berlin he would be compelled to leave his wife at home.
(2). If he had (should have) been sent to Berlin he would have been compelled to leave his wife at home.
194. As in other languages, the Conditional is used in Esperanto to attenuate or soften an expression that would be harsh or imperative, if the verb were in the Indicative; in fact, such attenuation implies some unexpressed condition.
Example.—Mi volus, ke tiu laboro estu finita hodiaŭ vespere = I should like that work (to be) finished this evening. Here the condition might be, "if you possibly can do it" (see par. [202] as to estu, Imperative mood, for the Infinitive).
THE IMPERATIVE or "U" MOOD (Ordona Modo).
195. In the Active Voice the Imperative (or "U") mood is formed by adding -U to the root of the verb, or by estu and one of the participles -ANTA, -INTA, or -ONTA for the compound forms; but the latter are very rarely used.